Wang Hongju did not convince Li Qiming, feeling very helpless, when he returned to Nantian Village, he found that the dead landlord's wife was still in the field at the head of the village, her body was crawling with flies, he found a few people to bury the landlord's wife's body.

After meeting Li Qiming, Wang Hongju was not in a very good mood, and after a hasty dinner, he wrote a report to the leaders of the unit asking him to return to the team. After writing the report, he still felt depressed, so he walked around the village alone. Wang Hongju came to a small river next to the village, the small river bank is very quiet, there are a few brightly colored water birds swimming leisurely on the water, and the slanting light of the setting sun in the distance reflects half of the sky.

Wang Hongju, who was preoccupied, had no intention of looking at the surrounding scenery, and only walked with his head down. Wang Hongju was walking, and suddenly heard the terrible howl of a person not far away, and he looked up and saw that he had come to the bend of the river. At the bend of the creek there are several bushes of plantain trees, and behind the plantain groves there is a thatched house. He knew that this was the place where the landlord Chen Wancai was being held, and that was where the voice came from.

The landlord, Chen Wancai, was kept alone in a small thatched hut, and today a militiaman named Chen Hanhe is in charge of guarding the prisoners. Towards evening, he broke into the house with a few people, they tied Chen Jiulai's feet to a rope and then wrapped the rope around the beam, and a few people pulled the rope hard and hung him upside down with his head down. Chen Hanhe stood in front of Chen Wancai, he loudly interrogated Chen Wancai if he still had hidden property and did not explain, while pushing Chen Wancai's body swinging around like a swing, Chen Wancai, who was head-down, couldn't stand it and talked nonsense, he said that he had an ancestral treasure hidden in the chicken coop, Chen Hanhe immediately asked someone to look for it, and when he came back, people said that they didn't find it. Chen Hanhe swayed Chen Wancai again, Chen Wancai, who was hanging upside down, was swollen with bloodshot eyes and swollen head, he was very uncomfortable, in order to be put down as soon as possible and talked nonsense, he would say that there was gold hidden on the beams of the house. After a while, he said that there were silver ingots buried in the ground, and after a while, he said that there was nothing, Chen Hanhe and the others were angry, they beat Chen Wancai with whips fiercely, and Chen Wancai screamed in pain. At this time, Wang Hongju walked in from outside, and when he saw this scene, he was furious, and he shouted and asked, "Stop!" Who told you to lynch him? ”

Chen Hanhe and the others immediately stopped, and Wang Hongju asked again: "Have you interrogated Chen Wancai with the permission of the organization?" ”

Wang Hongju saw that those people were silent, so he ordered Chen Hanhe to put down Chen Wancai, who was hanging upside down. Chen Hanhe and others were reluctant to do anything, so Wang Hongju stepped forward and put the person down with his own hands. He was untied. Chen Wancai collapsed to the ground like mud, and he thanked Wang Hongju weakly.

Wang Hongju said sternly to Chen Wancai: "I don't sympathize with you when I let you go, I just act according to the policy, you have to explain your problems well to ask for leniency!" Wang Hongju said to Chen Han and a few others: "This kind of inhumane punishment is used by the Kuomintang reactionaries against the arrested revolutionaries, and we can't use it!" If Chen Wancai is a scoundrel who has committed the most heinous crimes, we can use the revolutionary law to try them, and they should be killed and sentenced when they should be sentenced, but we cannot use lynching, because lynching is not in line with our party's policy. You remember this once, not the next one! ”

In fact, Chen Hanhe is not a real poor peasant. He has been idle since he was a child, lazy to eat, and smoked a lot of cigarettes to confiscate the family's acres of land and several houses, which made his parents angry to death. Later, it became a blind stream begging for food next to the village. This time, he interrogated Chen Wancai behind the back of the working group, but he actually wanted to secretly get some oil and water. The appearance of Wang Hongju disappointed the hopes of Chen Hanhe and others, and they were unwilling to find the leader of the working group and sue Wang Hongju indiscriminately.

The weather was very hot and humid at night, and Wang Hongju couldn't sleep, so he lay on the table and read. When he heard a knock at the door, he asked, "Who?" The knocker outside the door replied, "It's me, Lao Zheng." ”

"Please come in." Wang Hongju opened the door. Lao Zheng, the leader of the working group, walked into the house and said to Wang Hongju: "I see that you are not happy these days and want to talk to you." It's too hot in this house, let's go for a walk. ”

Wang Hongju agreed: "Okay." ”

When the two of them walked under an old cotton tree, they saw a big bluestone under the tree, so they sat on the stone. Lao Zheng took out a cigarette and handed it to Wang Hongju, and the two smoked silently. After a long time, Lao Zheng Cai spoke: "Xiao Wang, Chen Hanhe and a few peasants sued you, they said that you were arrogant to the masses, sympathizing with and shielding the landlord Chen Wancai. I was supposed to criticize you at the meeting, but after thinking about it, I decided it would be better to communicate with you privately. ”

In Wang Hongju's eyes, Lao Zheng is a big brother who is stable and sincere, except for a little incompatibility between the two at work, their personal relationship is not bad. Wang Hongju told Lao Zheng in detail what he encountered when he walked by the river after dinner.

Lao Zheng couldn't help shaking his head after hearing this, "Xiao Wang, it's very inappropriate for you to do this!" ”

"Lao Zheng, I stopped them from beating people, what's wrong with this?"

"Xiao Wang, you calm down and listen to me say a few words from your heart, in fact, it is not uncommon to kill people in the process of land reform. Like you, I am dissatisfied with the excessive violence in some places, and I am not in favour of lynching and torture of the landlords and kulaks, but this is a problem that has arisen in the mass movement, and we are personally powerless to stop it. We must see that land reform is necessary, and its general direction is absolutely correct. Our goal is to successfully complete the land reform work in Nantian Village, and don't care about some trivial things. ”

"Lao Zheng, I'm a person who is born to love everything more truthfully, and I don't want to wipe the mud. I don't think we can allow or acquiesce in the existence of undesirable phenomena just because we have achieved something good at work. Mistakes are inevitable, but mistakes should not be left unattended and should be corrected immediately! ”

"Xiao Wang, I appreciate your upright character, but I don't think you're mature enough. If you think that it is wrong for Chen Han and them to hang the landlord, you can criticize and dissuade them behind your back, and you can't reprimand them in front of the landlord, the actual effect of your doing so is to make several militiamen feel that they have lost face in front of the landlord, and you have supported the landlord Chen Wancai! It's strange that Chen Hanhe doesn't sue you! ”

"Lao Zheng, how can you be the same as County Magistrate Li, as soon as I say my different opinions, you will give me a big hat, the problem is not as serious as you said."

"Xiao Wang, have you forgotten your family background? Your family's land has also been divided among the peasants, and it is not a big deal for someone else to say a few words for the landlord, but you can't do it if you do this! Some people will say that you are fighting for the landlords! will even scold you for being a filial son and grandson of the landlord class! Although your starting point is not like this, this hat is very suitable for your head, and you can't take it off if you want to! ”

Lao Zheng's words made Wang Hongju sound very harsh, but he knew that Lao Zheng was telling the truth. He also remembered that Cui Fengming once jokingly criticized himself, saying that he was too simple and straightforward, so he was more serious, and he would never hide his thoughts, and if he suffered a loss in the future, he would definitely suffer in this regard. In fact, he also wanted to be more sleek and not have too many edges and corners, but he couldn't do it all the time. Wang Hongju said self-deprecatingly: "I am a person with too many edges and corners, and I am not born to be a passable person!" Even if I fall on my heels, I don't have a long memory, and I don't have confidence in myself! ”

Lao Zheng handed Wang Hong a cigarette and said: "You don't know, I was a bull demon king when I was young, the horns on my head were thick and long, and I didn't care about the magnifying cannon when I encountered something I was not used to, so I fell a lot of heels, and now I am a lot calmer after years of training." Xiao Wang, if you want to learn from me, you must change your overly upright personality and sharp style of doing things. You are young, there is still a long way to go in the future, you must be low-key in the future, you must consider what you say, and you must be thoughtful in your work. ”

Wang Hongju jokingly said: "Lao Zheng, you are an old fritter with eight faces!" ”

Lao Zheng said to himself: "Society is complex, and some things are not transferred by individual will. In all kinds of sports, you have to learn to follow the herd. Otherwise, you are an outlier. Hi! Don't talk about it! Lao Zheng sighed, and then only lowered his head to smoke and stopped talking. (To be continued......)